Christmas Day

25th December 2014 at Ivinghoe

Reading Isaiah 52: 7 – 10

⁷ How beautiful on the mountains
    are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
    who bring good tidings,
    who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
    ‘Your God reigns!’
⁸ Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
    together they shout for joy.
When the Lord returns to Zion,
    they will see it with their own eyes.
⁹ Burst into songs of joy together,
    you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people,
    he has redeemed Jerusalem.
¹⁰ The Lord will lay bare his holy arm
    in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see
    the salvation of our God.

Gospel Luke 2: 1 – 20

Alleluia, alleluia.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.

Alleluia.

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’

¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.’

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.’

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Christmas Message

Paper aeroplanes thrown.

What we do as a child influences the way we are as adults. Designers of Concorde seem to have looked back at attempts to fly paper planes as far as possible with minimum drag.

Birth Narratives

Events surrounding birth of Jesus. Background to where he was born, and in what circumstances.

Story unfolds in three episodes:

1. We sympathize with Joseph and (especially) pregnant Mary, as they make the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Mary delivers her first-born son in the lowliest of conditions.

2. We delight in the shepherds and get to share in the angel’s joyful “birth announcement” of the Messiah.

3. Finally, we get to accompany the shepherds to the manger, where they share the remarkable birth announcement to the amazement of all. These are indeed words that we, like Mary, treasure in our hearts.

Designers of Concorde had to move on from childish attempts at design to high tech world of modern aviation construction. Radical new materials instead of paper. Supersonic engines instead of elbow grease. Safety and control, instead of crashability.

So it is with Christmas. Window displays — Christmas carols — cribs — are today what Christmas is all about.

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,
Look upon a little child;
Pity my simplicity,
Suffer me to come to Thee.

wrote Charles Wesley — if that’s the impression we get of Christ, even in church, and pass it on to our children, then we do him and ourselves a disservice.

Focus on the child

Without the man, there is absolutely no reason to focus on the child of Bethlehem. The baby is unremarkable. Many others would have been born in squalid, unhygienic conditions to homeless, unmarried mothers.

What I want us to think about, this Christmas, is that this child became a man. His background, whatever it was, surrounded by drama and prophecy, was just the precursor of what was to come.

It’s no coincidence we hear nothing more of Jesus fate until he was in his thirties. Nothing about his childhood, adolescence or adulthood. Certainly no reference to a marriage, whatever Dan Brown might say.

Surely this is because the baby and the child are nothing without the man — what he was to become — his ministry, teaching, life, death, and eventual resurrection.

Christmas has no meaning without Lent, Holy Week and Easter.